Now someone explain to me what a crumpet is - is that like what Americans call an "English Muffin"?

Oh and British "pudding" - this sometimes seems to be a custard dessert, or something people set on fire? But then there's "blood pudding" and that's a sausage, right? Pudding seems to mean a bunch of different things. Can any Brit clarify?

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--Red"Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, which would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

And, why does mincemeat pie filling have to sit in the fridge for a few weeks??

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'I shall sit here quietly by the fire for a bit, and perhaps go out later for a sniff of air. Mind your Ps and Qs, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!' -FOTR

And, why does mincemeat pie filling have to sit in the fridge for a few weeks??

Currants are like raisins.

And what is mincemeat pie filling? It's like fruit that has beef in it? Is it supposed to be sweet or savory? Is it a dessert or a main dish?

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--Red"Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, which would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

'I shall sit here quietly by the fire for a bit, and perhaps go out later for a sniff of air. Mind your Ps and Qs, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!' -FOTR

Your recipe still hasn't cleared up for me whether this is a dessert or not. It has a lot of fruit, but there's meat and a lot of sour. So I find myself still at an impasse.

I think the candied fruit peel can be found in specialty baking sections. I think I've seen candied orange peel, but I don't think i've seen candied "mixed fruit". I also don't think "sour cherry" preserves area all that easy to find.

Currants you can often find with the raisins.

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--Red"Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, which would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

HiWhen I was in a hotel in Germany (Berlin) once, they had little bottles of vodka on the breakfast buffet table and tomato juice too. I was like ... WHOA!

I burst out laughing, so I had to tell DH about this. He looked kind of quizzical and said, "And her problem would be..............?"

I can tell you though that vodka is not standard on German breakfast menus. However, when I moved to Austria I was introduced to the belief that schnapps is the cure for just about every bodily ailment. Cold? Schnapps! Sore throat? Schnapps! American students tend to think it's the most fabulous thing...for the first day or so. After that, they start to groan whenever the bottle comes out.

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I'm the kid who has this habit of dreamingSometimes gets me in trouble tooBut the truth is I could no more stop dreamingThan I could make them all come true.

As a Canadian, I get exposed to both the British and American influences.

American biscuits are similar to British scones - they are a bready thing with the leavening agent being baking powder. Biscuits tend to be plain or savoury while scones tend to be sweeter, from my understanding.

Crumpets are another bready like breakfast or tea food. The ones I get here aren't cut, like an English muffin would be. They have all these holes on the top of them so when you toast them and then butter them, the holes fill up with melted butter. Yum!

Canada is supposedly metric but still uses Imperial (or British) measurements for some things. 1 cup is 8 ounces, roughly equivalent to 250 mL. 1 pound is 16 ounces, equivalent to 454 g. An American quart is 32 ounces but an Imperial quart is 40 ounces. 32 ounces is roughly 1 L but 40 ounces is 1.14 L. Temperature wise, the US uses the Farenheit scale and Canada uses the Celcius scale, with a lot of us having a good idea what the equivalent Farenheit value is.

If you can get a pumpkin in Britain, pumpkin pie is really good. It is more of a custard, at least the way I make it. Cooked, pureed pumpkin with condensed milk, eggs, brown sugar and a bunch of spices - I use cinammon, ginger, nutmeg. A friend of my mother's had a daughter who was engaged to a Brit. Who insisted there was no way he was eating pumpkin. So when he was over, she made two pies for Thanksgiving - a banana custard and a 'spice' custard. He chose the spice. And enjoyed it thoroughly, even after it was revealed that he'd eaten his first pumpkin pie.

North American marshmellows are soft, white things, about the size of a golf ball, and are just sugar and geletin, mostly. There is usually no flavouring to them. I understand that British marshmellows tend to be of a harder consistancy and are shaped and flavoured?

For recipes calling for lard or shortening, in most cases, you can just swap them one for the other. 'Pure' shortening looks very similar to lard but is made from vegetable sources. There is some talk that the lard is actually better for you because shortening is made from hydrogenated oils. I use lard for pastry, shortening for making cake decorating icing and generally use butter, margarine or oil in other recipes.

I don't make my own mincemeat; we buy it, usually jarred. It is mostly sweet. The commercial stuff doesn't use meat, per se, but does generally use beef suet, or fat, in the mixture. It is mostly stewed fruit.

Currents are a dried fruit. They are little berries that are dried like raisins but they tend to be much smaller in size and, to my taste, a little bitter.

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After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

Your recipe still hasn't cleared up for me whether this is a dessert or not. It has a lot of fruit, but there's meat and a lot of sour. So I find myself still at an impasse.

I think the candied fruit peel can be found in specialty baking sections. I think I've seen candied orange peel, but I don't think i've seen candied "mixed fruit". I also don't think "sour cherry" preserves area all that easy to find.

Currants you can often find with the raisins.

I believe it is a dessert... but I am not sure!!

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'I shall sit here quietly by the fire for a bit, and perhaps go out later for a sniff of air. Mind your Ps and Qs, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!' -FOTR

Yes, it is definitely a dessert. Closer to a raisin pie, for a comparison.

So now I have to ask..what is a raisin pie? Is that like an apple pie with only raisins in it?

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--Red"Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, which would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

And, why does mincemeat pie filling have to sit in the fridge for a few weeks??

Currants are like raisins.

Slight disagree - I think a currant is more of a cross between a berry and a raisin.

To those of you who answered me about licorice and blackcurrant, I was referring to the candies that have both flavors - I've had plenty of licorice and blackcurrant stuff individually. It sounds like a good combo, but not one that's for everyone, I'm sure.

Question for British EHellions: Just what is chicken tikka masala? In the U.S., it's chicken in a creamy, lightly spicy sauce. In Canada, it's chicken in a more spicy, non-creamy tomato sauce, and the U.S. chicken tikka masala is chicken makhani (AKA butter chicken).

What does Irn Bru taste like? Is it really made from bridge girders? That sounds questionable safetywise...

I think holiday traditions in other countries are interesting. I read once about Saint Lucia's Day in Sweden, and thought it was fabulous, but my parents thought it unwise to let me put candles on my head. In retrospect, a good idea!

What exactly is Boxing Day? Is that when presents are opened? When the boxes are discarded? When you take the boxes back to the stores because you don't want what's in them? Are there boxes? Yes, I put too much thought into this!

Are Christmas crackers better in Britain? The only ones I've seen here have very cheap plastic toys or, more likely, small office supplies, a paper crown, and a silly joke.

Are lingonberries and cloudberries the same thing and what do they taste like?

Yes, it is definitely a dessert. Closer to a raisin pie, for a comparison.

So now I have to ask..what is a raisin pie? Is that like an apple pie with only raisins in it?

I made my first raisin pie this fall because my brother and Dad wanted one while they were hunting! You put raisins, water, sugar and a little lemon juice in a sauce pan and cook it down until the liquid is thickened and then you put it into your pie shell and bake it, like you would any other pie.

A mincemeat pie would be very similar consistancy but with a stronger flavour because of the cut mixed fruit.

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After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

In this part of the U.S. (Oregon) fast-food wise we have:Popeye's Chicken - This is good stuff, and the red beans and rice side dish is awesome. I think this is more New Orleans style than, say, Kentucky Fried Chicken, which we also have around here. The difference is that New Orleans cooking tends to be quite a bit spicier than most of what would be considered "standard" southern cooking.

Sonic Drive-In - one was just built in a neighboring town and I haven't eaten there yet.

Burgerville - Their food is actually very good, and they try to stick to regional dishes, like Marionberry shakes (sort of like raspberries) and Walla Walla sweet onion rings (Walla Walla, Washington isn't that far from here, globally speaking.) They also use Tillamook cheddar cheese (comes from a town about an hour from here) and during the fall make sweet potato fries, which they sell by the ton.

Chick-Fil-A: I worked at one of these in California, and all I can tell you is that it's all chicken plus a few side dishes, so not a large menu. About the only difference between them and Kentucky Fried is that CFA is always closed on Sundays.

Jack In The Box: Like McDonald's, except that their menu is more varied and their food is better (my opinion.) They were also one of the earliest drive-up fast-food places, if I remember correctly.

Wendy's has better food than McDonalds. Burger King has been around since at least the mid 1960s (I remember a Burger King in Albany, Georgia in 1965) and Wendy's showed up in the 1970s. I remember hearing commercials for McDonalds on TV in the mid 1960s, but the closest one to where we lived in Albany was in Tallahassee, Florida.

We've also got lots of pizza places. We usually get Hungry Howie's pizzas because they deliver to our area. We're good tippers, so we always get excellent service.

My mum says Americans dont eat alot of lamb. And its expensive. Is this true?

I didn't see this question answered in this thread (my apologies if I'm wrong).

There's an historical reason Americans don't eat much lamb. Sheep and cattle have different grazing patterns which makes ranching them together difficult. During the 1800s, some pretty brutal "range wars" took place on the frontier between sheep ranchers and cattle ranchers, and in most cases the cattle ranchers prevailed.